


spiderboy

by sleeponrooftops



Series: raising webhead: a parenting guide, attempted by the science boyfriends [44]
Category: Iron Man - All Media Types, Marvel, Spider-Man - All Media Types, The Incredible Hulk - All Media Types
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-26
Updated: 2013-07-26
Packaged: 2017-12-21 10:45:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,622
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/899403
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sleeponrooftops/pseuds/sleeponrooftops
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Boys will be boys, and sometimes, boys will learn how to be heroes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	spiderboy

_Two months later._

_April, 2024_

“I’m gonna get a motorcycle,” is how it starts.

 

Peter and Flash both throw popcorn at Johnny where he’s balancing on the edge of the roof, walking back and forth, but he just lifts a hand and shoots a small flame at the flying food.

 

“No, seriously,” he goes on, “I already have my drivers’ permit, I can start taking the classes for a motorcycle permit and then I’ll just do both the tests for a license later.  Dude,” he says, turning to them, “How cool would it be if we had a car?”

 

“We could go to the zoo,” Peter says.

 

“ _Peter_!” Johnny and Flash groan at the same time.

 

“What?” he says, making a face, “I like the zoo.”

 

“You already have one next to your bedroom,” Flash reminds him, and Peter shrugs.

 

“Yeah, but that’s only reptiles.  It’s not like I can fit an elephant in there.  I’m bored, let’s do something.”

 

“We could go by Gwen’s,” Johnny says before making kissy noises, and Flash laughs as Peter starts throwing popcorn again.  “Do you guys, like—kiss and hold hands and stuff?” he asks when Peter stops.

 

Flash groans, falling onto his back.  “You have no idea,” he mutters, “They’re so gross.”

 

“Oh, shut up, just because you can’t get Mary Jane to give you the time of day,” Peter teases, reaching over to poke Flash until he starts laughing and rolls away.

 

“Dude, Mary Jane, though,” Flash says, getting up.

 

“Yeah,” Peter says, nodding, “She’s really pretty.”

 

“If Gwen wasn’t your girlfriend, would you ask Mary Jane out?” he asks, picking up the bowl and carrying it out of Peter’s reach before he sits down again.

 

“No, you like her,” Peter says.

 

Flash rolls his eyes, “I meant if I didn’t, would you?”

 

“Totally,” Peter says, nodding, “But I’m dating Gwen, and you like Mary Jane, so it doesn’t matter.  What about you?” he nods toward Johnny, “Do you like anyone?”

 

Johnny shrugs, coming away from the edge of the roof to sit next to Peter.  “I _was_ dating that girl, Miranda, but I haven’t heard from her in a few weeks, so I guess that’s over.  And then I’m supposed to see a movie with this guy, Zachary, that I met in Brooklyn the other day.”

 

“Woah, really?” Flash says as he sits on Peter’s other side, “You like guys?”

 

“Yeah,” Johnny says, shrugging, “What’s it to you?”

 

“Nothing, I just—I thought you were only into girls,” Flash mumbles.

 

“My sister says I’m _experimenting_ , or whatever.”

 

“Your sister knows?” Flash asks, shocked.

 

“Yeah,” Johnny says slowly, looking across Peter at Flash, “Why does it matter?”

 

“I just—I never thought—I dunno, man, I never thought you were the type.”

 

“The type?” Peter repeats, looking over at Flash now, “What do you mean by that?”

 

“You know— _being gay_ ,” he almost whispers it, and Peter frowns, so Flash quickly adds, “Not that I have anything against it, obviously, I just never thought you’d be—wait.  Peter, do you—do you like guys, too?”

 

They all fall quiet, and Peter holds Flash’s gaze for a long time before he responds, “Does it matter to you?”

 

“I’m not trying to be rude,” Flash sighs, “I have nothing against your dads, Peter, I just didn’t know.”

 

“So—do you?” Johnny asks, nudging Peter and grinning.

 

“Go away, you know I do,” Peter grumbles, giving Johnny a shove, but that just instigates him more, and Johnny tackles him, tickling him mercilessly until Peter’s shrieking, shooting webs everywhere at Johnny until he retreats.  “You suck,” he whines, collapsed against the roof.

 

“What about you, Flash?” Johnny asks, getting up again and heading for the edge, “Think you could ever kiss a guy?”

 

Flash shrugs.  “I dunno, maybe.  I don’t think I’m really into guys, though.”

 

“Stop giving me that look,” Peter says, kicking him halfheartedly, “I don’t care if you’re straight, I just care if you think being gay is an issue, _considering_.”

 

Flash starts to say something, but then Johnny’s letting out a shout and diving off the roof, and he sighs, rolling his eyes.  “He’s such a show off,” Flash grumbles, getting to his feet, “I’m gonna take the elevator, I’ll meet you down.”

 

“Hey,” Peter says, getting to his feet and holding out a hand.  Flash takes it, letting Peter haul him up.  “It doesn’t bother you, right?” he asks, shoving his hands in his pockets.

 

“I promise, it doesn’t,” Flash says, bumping shoulders with him, “Just don’t flirt with me, alright?”

  
“Sorry, not my type,” Peter says, and Flash mocks hurt as Peter laughs and heads for the edge of the roof.

 

He waits until Flash is inside before he takes his hands back out of his pockets, his mask clutched in one hand.  He spreads it out, looking at it, trying to decide when he hears Johnny’s voice catcalling through the night, “Come on, spiderboy!”  Peter shakes his head, grinning, before he lifts it, pulling it over his head, and he takes a deep breath before looking up out at the world, seeing it for the first time behind the mask.

 

He never thought that putting on the mask meant he was giving the okay to the world, that shielding _Peter_ inside Spiderman meant that it was time, that he was ready, and he figures he should have maybe expected that nothing good could come of a bored Johnny and a costume inspired by loss.

 

As he swings out over the rooftop, flying through the city, he thinks he sees a glimpse of black and red, and he misses his next target and crashes sideways into a building, grunting as the bricks strike against his body.  He tumbles through the air, disoriented, and, as he finally manages to right himself and press his fingers down, the ground looms up to greet him in the form of a body.

 

Peter collides in a tangled heap with the man, sending them both sprawling to the ground, and he rolls away, holding his side as he struggles to his feet, balanced in a defensive position, knees bent and whole body coiled, waiting.  “What the _fuck_ ,” the man growls, kicking at nothing and getting up.  Furious heels click away from them, a woman running from danger, and Peter realizes with sudden clarity what he’s dropped in on.  He shifts, moving from defensive into offensive, dropping his hand from his side and straightening a little.  “Fuckin’ freak,” the man says, advancing on him, “Are you wearing a _mask_ , pretty boy?”

  
Peter shoots a web and leaps, landing on a nearby dumpster as the web catches, clinging around the man’s mouth.  His shouts are muffled as he scrapes at it, eyes wild, and Peter watches him for a few moments before climbing down from the dumpster and stepping forward, hands lifting.  In seconds, he’s pinned the man back against a wall and is staring at him through spider’s eyes, head cocked.  The man stares at him in terror until Peter slices a hole over his mouth for him to breath, and he starts screaming.  He slaps a hand over his mouth, shaking his head.  “Stop that,” he says, frowning underneath the mask, “What were you planning on doing with that woman?”

 

“Listen, just let me go, I’ll never touch her again,” he begs as Peter takes his hand back, “Come on, man, this isn’t cool.”

 

“Are you a mugger?  Do you prowl the streets of New York just waiting for innocent women on their way home?  What kind of _asshole_ are you?”

 

A flash of light overhead catches his attention, but Peter doesn’t turn his gaze up when the man does, instead watches fear infect his face again as the fire turns and drops, and then Johnny’s stepping toward him, the flames dying away.  “Webhead?” Johnny says, looking over at him, “What’s going on?  _Dude_!”  He punches him in the shoulder, grinning.  “Is that your Spiderman mask?  That’s so awesome, oh man.  You look badass.”

 

Peter rolls his eyes, punching him back, “Don’t be such a loser.”

 

Johnny snorts and turns back to the man, asking, “Who’s this?”

 

“Dropped in on him being rather rude to some poor woman,” Peter says, and Johnny frowns, folding his arms across his chest.

 

“Listen man, come on,” the man pleads, looking between them, “She was my girlfriend, I was just trying to teach her a lesson.  You know how women are when they get bitchy, especially those fuckin’ blonde bimbos, man.”

 

“Oh!” Johnny shouts when Peter’s fist swings forward, and the man starts coughing, trying to find air.  “Bad idea,” Johnny says, shrugging, “Because not only is his girlfriend blonde, but so is my sister.”

 

Johnny takes a shot, and then another, and he’s about to step aside for Peter when Flash’s voice floats through the night, “Guys?  What the hell, where are you?”

 

“Go,” Peter says, pushing Johnny away, “Go.  Don’t let him see.  I’ll take care of this.”  Johnny nods after a second, jogging down the alley, and Peter waits until he’s gone before he turns back to the man.  “She deserves better than you, whoever she is,” he says, and the words make his chest ache, “Don’t ever let her see your face again.”

 

“Hey!” the man shouts as Peter starts walking away, “Hey, shithead, let me down!”

 

But Peter just blocks him out, pulling off his mask near the end of the alley and going to find Johnny and Flash, thinking about black and red scars.  When Johnny catches sight of him, he runs over, looping an arm around his shoulders and laughing as he pulls him close.  “Spider _man_ ,” he says, grinning, “Not spider _boy_.”

**Author's Note:**

> Vacation was excellent, but I am happy to be back. Erin and I had an amazing time on the beach—we only came out of the water to eat and go on rides. I’ve got _very_ exciting news, too, so pay attention. I’m even going to start a new paragraph.
> 
> Okay, ready? So—and I’m blaming this on Erin again because she just _does things_ when I’m with her, and thus this is why she’s my muse—there are various moments in Peter’s life that I’ve wanted to cover and either haven’t because I thought about them after the age appropriate time or I just forgot about doing them when I was writing during the age appropriate time. I also know that there are various moments that some of my readers, and even Erin, have wanted to see, and I haven’t done. That the series is already written kind of brings about a small problem—I can’t put any additions in without messing up the storyline. Therefore, after the completion of this series, I’ll be starting what I’d like to call the _bonus features_. Like a sub-section on a film, this is a sub-series of all those little moments I never got to write. It gets better. If ever you’re reading and you’re like, _oh man, I really wish Mary had written about this, it would have been so awesome_ , now you can tell me! I’m not promising I’ll write all of them, but I would love to hear from you guys, any prompts that you have that you wanted to see in this series, and I’ll try to get them into the bonus features. The bonus features will not be organized, and I won’t have a set amount of fics or a set end-date for them, I’ll just be adding to it as I go. That said, I will be writing it while this series is still going on, but I won’t be posting it until after, so if you don’t see your prompt up on the big screen right away, don’t freak out, it’ll get there eventually. I thought this would be nice, though, being able to finish the series with Peter at nineteen or twenty, however old he is, and then being able to jump back into little Peter—because I know some of you miss him at four and five and six, and I certainly do, as well. So, I’m going to stop rambling. I just wanted to let you guys know so that if you have any prompts, just leave them in a comment, and I’ll start making a list in my _raising webhead_ folder so I can get to work on them. I would say try to stay under the age you’re currently at whenever requesting just because there’s no telling what will happen when he’s older, but if you have something you want to get down before you forget, go for it.
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this one, and don’t forget to leave your thoughts!


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